Monday, January 27, 2014

Organization and focus are key qualities for many successful adults, but these skills do not come naturally to all. I know so many kids and teens that have some sort of Executive Functioning challenges and I found this information to be very interesting and extremely helpful!

Many times, kids start off the school year strong and very organized and as they shift to the second part of the school year a lot of kids go on cruise control and get themselves into messy waters. Here are some great tips from The Glenholme School to keep your kids on track!

Maryann Campbell, Executive Director of The Glenholme School, offers a few tips to assist all parents and children:

1.Stash and trash – Prevent mountains of papers from accumulating by learning what to keep and what to toss. This is a very important skill, even for the most organized adults! Teach children at a young age what types of documents to keep and throw away as well as how to best organize the materials they are keeping. Your future storage bins will thank you!

2.Balancing work and fun – It is important to teach children that there is a time for work and a time for play, and that they are both important for a well-balanced life!Make time for studying, afterschool activities and dinner with the family.

3.Manage the day – Parents have planners, and so should children! Teach your child to use a day planner or calendar, where they can record their school work, after-school activities, social events and family time. Whether it is paper or digital, it doesn’t matter. The point is that the child learns to manage their time and sets realistic expectations for each day.

4.Organize assignments – Parents can help their children stay organized with color-coded folders and a desk-top storage system for their school work. Children also really enjoy label makers. Divide the folders and storage containers by subject, and teach children how to label accordingly.

5.Lightening the backpack without losing the work – We’ve all witnessed the tiny child with the gigantic backpack that weighs nearly as much as they do, as well as the extreme opposite of the student who shows up to class without a pen or paper. Teaching children to carry what is important for the day will help them be better prepared for class. Go over the day’s activities the night before, make a list of what classes and activities the child has and pack accordingly.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Today’s
topic is….drumroll please…… Social Media! Why is it so important to businesses
..especially small business? I am very fortunate to have a fabulous company No Time For Social (www.notimeforsocial.com) running our social media. The
founder and head of the company, Bill Combes is smart, engaging and works his
tail off for all of his clients.

I never
realized how important social media was until No Time For Social started helping us. What they have done is they
have helped Fairytale Wishes form a relationship an ongoing relationship with
our customers that is relevant and
engaging and fun. It has helped keep Fairytale Wishes at “top of mind”
status for parents/grandparents/caregivers and when they need our products—we
are right there!

I can
highly recommend Bill and his No Time For
Social team for all of your business’s Social Marketing needs—because I
have seen a difference in my business since using them and I know all of their
clients can say the same.

They are
offering a special discount for new clients. Read my interview with Bill and
sign up!

What is “No Time for Social”?

We are
a social media management company for small to medium sized businesses.Small to medium sized businesses are in a
tough position when it comes to social.They can hire someone to keep up with their social presence (expensive),
try to do it themselves or have someone in the office take care of it (risky if
you are not dedicated and don’t have the time to keep up with all the changes),
or hire a company to take care of it for you at a very reasonable price.It’s like getting a new team member at 1/3 of
the price!We do one thing and one thing
well – social media.

Why is social media so important for a business?

The way
that we communicate with customers has fundamentally changed.Businesses must be on social platforms
because that is where their customers are.To me, social is the new web.

In 1998
if you did not have a webpage, you were beginning to fall behind your
competitors.In 2014 if you are not on
social platforms, you are most definitely falling behind your competition.There are literally hundreds of studies that
have been done that point toward social being a very important part of almost
every business today and growing.

Are different social media outlets more effective for
certain types of businesses?

Right
now, Facebook seems to be dominating for most businesses selling anything.Some B2B (business to business) entities are
finding more success using LinkedIn.Google+ and Twitter are also valuable brands that need to be looked
at.For restaurants - Yelp and
Foursquare.We’re also watching
Instagram and Pinterest as potential platforms for our clients.

Do you think social media has the power to scale up a
business to the next revenue level? Why?

Absolutely.You have many more opportunities for your
company name, product or service to be talked about on social media than we
have ever seen.Companies that produce
the right content and mix of content on their networks will keep people coming
back for more.And the advertising
platforms are cost effective with a much better way to target your
audience.I’ve heard of some companies
moving their entire advertising budget to social media.Based on what I have read in various
published studies, 10-40% of marketing dollars spent are now being spent on
social and that number is sure to become higher over the next 2-3 years.If you run a business and have a $0 Facebook
advertising budget, you are missing out.

How is NTFS different from other social media companies?
What sets you apart?

Social
media management as a standalone business is a rather new business model.We have seen a few standalone companies doing
what we do which is specifically managing social media.Where you begin to see differentiation is
with advertising agencies that sell traditional media and Google AdWords moving
into social media management as a segment of their business.

The
challenge for those companies is twofold:

1.Can they execute with so many other distractions
and business segments to run.

2.They are used to charging a premium.What we have seen is a premium price ($2,000 to $5,000 a month) being charged
for fewer services than a company like NTFS can provide.We feel like as a stand along social media
management company, we can provide the best value for the price.

Do you have any great stories to tell about the success of
any of your clients?

We’ve
been successful at driving business to all of our clients but a few of the big
successes have been:Acculynx (software)
– likes increased from 1,600 to almost 4,000 and increased sales, Copperstone
Inn (B&B) – increased sales of open room dates and increase likes, Lingo
Interactive (video language learning) – recent launch increased likes from 100
to 750, and last but not least, Fairytale Wishes – increased likes and fan
engagement .A combination of us posting
with an enhanced social media advertising budget has been the best mix so
far.We manage thousands in Facebook ads
every month for our clients.

Are there any
new social media outlets that you think are going to have “breakthrough” power?

As
mentioned earlier, we are watching several.I think more segmented social platforms that integrate with other
platforms like Facebook are happening and will be relevant.Sites like Nextdoor, Circle, Quora, Vowch…there
are probably 50 that are just waiting for funding or some type of press to get
things moving.

Do you have any great offers for new clients?

We have
three tiers of services that you can find on our site www.notimeforsocial.com .We’re offering the first 10 companies that
contact us from your blog post an upgrade to the 2nd tier level
service for the 1st tier price or 3rd tier level service
for the 2nd tier price.We
will also charge a flat $500 set up fee.It’s about a $2500 - $4000 savings for a year depending on the package.

If you have
any questions for Bill and would like to contact him: email him at bill@notimeforsocial.com or call him at 512-721-0333​.

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About Me

I am the mom of two wonderful children and the wife of a fantastic husband. I manufacture and distribute magical aromatherapy sprays for kids to help them with common childhood fears and anxieties. I manufacture all of my products in the USA and use ingredients derived from natural sources. My mission is to give children everywhere a "Happily Ever After"